California's students are failing to make the grade in mathematics. A recent study released by the RAND Corporation found that California's eighth grade students ranked 43rd on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics tests. A study conducted by the California State University system found that only 55% of high school…

Many states and districts are moving toward more targeted compensation policies as a way to attract higher quality candidates into the teaching profession and to encourage increases in productivity among current teachers. Rather than align pay increases only to level of education and years of experience, for example, many school systems have…

Composition education is not only about the development of students' written literacy skills; it is also about learning new ways to think and act both inside and outside the classroom. By understanding the ideological and social elements of teaching practices, teachers can structure their undergraduate composition classrooms in ways that better…

This paper examines evaluation processes used to assess bilingual educators' teaching performance when monolingual administrators conduct the review, highlighting the importance of bilingual teachers in bilingual education programs. The four basic types of bilingual instruction include the following: English immersion, English as a Second Language…

In this document, the Senate Bill 2488 of the 2000 Mississippi Legislative Session is discussed. The bill specified that the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) must identify schools that do not meet expected levels of student achievement and label them as Priority Schools. This legislation further clarified public school accreditation and…

Wisconsin's Quality Educator Initiative, Chapter PI 34 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, is designed to build teacher training programs and ongoing professional development opportunities that are competency-based and consistent with the state teacher standards. The new system asks students in teacher training programs to demonstrate…

This report presents actions states can take to help ensure that they have a highly qualified teacher in every career/technical classroom. In order to meet this goal, states may need to rethink their approach toward recruitment by developing a system to enroll interested and capable high school and college students in a career/technical teacher…

National Board Certification[R] is a nationwide program designed to identify, recognize and reward teachers and school counselors who meet the highest standards of their profession. To achieve certification, teachers must demonstrate thorough mastery of the subjects they teach, the methods of instruction to use, and the skill to apply that…

The third research study in a series of qualitative studies examines the functions and practices of local professional development committees in Ohio. This descriptive study interviewed key informants from five Local Professional Development Committees (LPDCs) regarding their processes and practices. Resultant data indicated that several districts…

As school districts nationwide work to implement the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, they may be inadvertently accelerating the departure of experienced teachers and failing to adequately support new teachers. The Alliance for Excellent Education believes that this problem requires a two-pronged solution: financial incentives for…

This report examines the history of standards in teacher education, sketching the results of major studies and projects that have recommended standards for teacher education. The report offers a definition of standards, examples of standard-setting efforts over the years, efforts by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education,…

This paper is the third in a series of reports that examine the impact of No Child Left Behind, the newly revised Elementary and Secondary Education Act, on state policy and policymaking. It focuses on teaching quality. The first section explains that a highly qualified teacher is one who has been fully licensed or certified by the state and not…

Prompted by a student comment that college lacked intellectual challenge, the author and colleagues sat in on an English class described as "a brain dump." The teacher had assigned students to write parodies of "The Road Not Taken," knowing that to do the assignment well, they would have to read and understand Frost's poem. The instructor was…

Florida and Texas have tied evaluation of preservice teacher programs to performance measures. These reforms may have an impact on the functioning of teacher education programs within their institutions of higher education (IHE's). In 1996, Florida's State Board of Education adopted the Florida Education Standards Commission's (ECS) Recommendation…

This paper provides information about teacher quality proposals that are drawing attention from state and local lawmakers. For each proposal, the paper uses the following framework to organize evidence: definition or explanation of the policy, rationale, trends, evidence, and key issues. The paper demonstrates how the framework would organize…